NewsHear Steven Wilson’s new song, ‘Anyone But Me’
Outtake from The Future Bites sessions
Steven Wilson has today made available a new song called Anyone But Me.
This track was originally set to close The Future Bites (the album was actually mastered and cut with the song in place) but the delay in releasing the album (from June 2020 to January 2021) gave Wilson the opportunity for a rethink and he replaced it with what he describes as the “more laid back and atmospheric” song ‘Count of Unease’.
Lyrically it’s about how it’s now possible to present to the world a version of yourself via social media that may have no bearing on reality
Steven Wilson
A demo of Anyone But Me was actually included on the cassette – sorry, obsolete media – in the limited edition deluxe box set of The Future Bites, but this is the first time the full studio cut has been made available.
Steven Wilson had the following to say about Anyone But Me:
“Lyrically it’s about how it’s now possible to present to the world a version of yourself via social media that may have no bearing on reality – photos of yourself in places you’ve never been, hanging out with friends you’ve never met. It’s becoming more important to create the illusion of a desirable life on social media than it is to actually live it”.
There is no news of a physical release for Anyone But Me, but SDE will keep its ear to the ground.
Personally, I think Steven made the wrong decision to remove it from the album. It’s a strong song and would have provided a rather sad and wistful ending to the album. What do you think? Leave a comment. As a reminder, here’s ‘Count of Unease’:
Anyone But Me credits: Steven Wilson – synthesisers, piano, hammond organ, acoustic guitar, bass, vocals David Kosten – programming Fyfe Dangerfield – vocals Michael Spearman – drums String arrangement by SW, performed by the London Session Orchestra conducted by Guy Protheroe
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Steven Wilson
The Future Bites - vinyl LP
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Steven Wilson
The Future Bites - blu-ray
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Steven Wilson
The Future Bites - CD edition
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Tracklisting
The Future Bites Steven Wilson /
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- Unself
- Self
- King Ghost
- 12 Things I Forgot
- Eminent Sleaze
- Personal Shopper
- Man of the People
- Follower
- Count of Unease
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Interview
Steven’s e-mail explaining his heavy-hearted decision to cancel (rather than postpone, again) his September tour for TFB implied there were more releases from the project still to come – we’ve now seen (well, heard) the Nile Rogers remix of Personal Shopper and it sounds like there is more to come – I’d be surprised if there isn’t come kind of companion package, probably in physical formats, coming soon. (I was half-expecting something TFB-related for Record Store Day but there are quite a few artists I thought would be ‘good bets’ for this year, based on recent new or archive activity, that are not participating for 2021).
He’s done a few songs online for “The Future Bites” sessions such as Voyage 34 that were possibly rehearsals/tryouts f the tour that now won’t happen.
So if he does put this song out as a single, hes already got plenty of b-side material.
I have the Deluxe Box from the store – about 90€ + shipping = 130€ , very expensive – but ok!
The box arrived via UPS (very late)
Then 10 days later arrived a bill from UPS of 36€!?!? Fu@# Brexit
And now – a lot of tracks – are not in the box! ( ok a demo is on the cassette, but who has a good player)
It makes the box boring for me – sad sad sad
Additionally to complete the album you have to buy the 12“single for the remix, the cd single for two non album tracks, downloads from epˋs , the Nile Rogers remix and now another lost track….
I do have some sympathy with your frustration on the drip drip effect of additional releases to the box set. But this doesn’t take away from the quality of the music in the box set, or the enjoyment of it.
On one play of the new song, it sounds great, but then again so does the closing track of the album. Unless it gets a physical release it won’t get much, if any, play. Streaming is utterly dull and only gets used if I’m out for a walk, and then the headphones I have are crap. I am still surprised when a release isn’t on both a cd and an lp record. Cd is still the most convenient medium to use in the house and the sound is stunning.
Lots of albums get released accompanied by singles with non album tracks. It’s been that way since the 60s. (It took 50 years for the Beatles to add Strawberry Fields and Penny Lane to Sgt Pepper!)
Oasis were great practitioners of the art in the 90s.
I can listen to pretty much anything released in connection with this album online (with StevenbWilson’s blessing). I choose not to spend £10 a piece on the 3 track singles, but they are there if I want them.
Unrelated to this precisely but I would highly recommend any Steven Wilson fan should track down and listen to the Bob Lefsetz Letter podcast with Steven.It goes nearly 2 hours and as well as talking about his own music he goes into a lot of detail about his remixing work process.Down to how much he charges,what hours of the day he works and how long it takes him to complete a remix as well as great detail about the equipment he uses in this work.Fascinating stuff.Available wherever you get your podcasts-Spotify etc.
Thanks for lettischen me know Alan.
Much appreciated.
I was looking forward to the full, studio version being released but I can’t stand the backing vocals on it. The demo will have to be the one I listen to.
This is not a criticism of either Steve Wilson or The Future Bites… But I notice that the “limited edition” red vinyl and white vinyl are still available months down the line… Hmmm
I agree with you, Paul, “Anyone But Me” would have given the album the perfect ending for “The Future Bites”. “Count Of Unease” is undoubtedly a fantastic song, but it has become almost cliché to put such a song as the “closing word” at the end of a Wilson album. “Anyone But Me” would have been a welcome change. And the music is also catchy, I think.
It’s a good song. I hope it makes it onto vinyl soon….cheers for the listen Paul! :-)
Nice song. Real shame it was left off the album. He could have at least added it to the SDE box.
This is good indeed, but it should have been included in the SDE. He did that also with a couple of tracks from Hand Can Not Erase, he released them on RSD among other things. They could at least offer a free High Res download to the buyers of the SDE, and the buyer of any physical or digital “bought” version, if it could be 5.1 or atmos it would be even better..
I agree with Alan – Steven Wilson with Porcupine Tree, No-man, and his solo work, plus all the other stuff he does, is really a phenomenal musical entity in these times. I admire the way he shifted his music and followed his own muse too. Not everyone will like everything he puts out, but there is no denying that every time he issues new music, it brings a lot of fresh air into the room. Reminds me in some ways of what the first Steely Dan album did – just woke people up to new possibilities.
Great track but so was Count Of Unease.Deciding the album was going to have a running time of around 40 minutes meant great stuff was always going to be left off.
It deserves to be heard.I’m sure there will eventually be some huge deluxe rarities collection from Steven.
The Future Bites is my favourite album of the year so far.
By the way Steven has said he will have 2 new albums ready to go next year.The first one will be very guitar driven.What a great talent-my number 1 musical discovery of the 21st century.
A better song than count of unease but not sure it fits the album as well. Will we see a release of the future bites off cuts ?
That is glorious. So sad that SW has cancelled the tour for this album as I think September would have been OK – we’ll never get to see the show based around this concept.
I agree with you Paul and there are extra tracks in the super deluxe edition as good if not better than some on the album